A total of 79 college students participated in an investigation designed to clarify the function of conversational closings. Multidimensional scaling was used to derive a three-dimensional representation of the semantic meaning conveyed by 20 frequently used conversational closings. Regression analyses of the scaling solution suggested that the dimensions could be interpreted as reflecting the degree of inaccessibility, the degree of social distance between partners, and the degree of the support for the relationship signalled by the terminals. The results indicated that the semantic meaning of closing terminals would allow them to serve two functions: signalling inaccessibility and signalling support for the relationship. The obliqueness of the dimensions suggests that a terminal might simultaneously fulfill more than one function and that the functions are not independent. (Author/FL)